Senate gearing up for battle over gun legislation

With the Obama administration ramping up its efforts to enact new gun control legislation, the fight is now shifting to Capitol Hill in what looks to be a long, high-stakes battle.

Pro- and anti-gun control rallies have popped up across the nation. Gun buyback programs have netted thousands of weapons in New Jersey, California, Florida and Washington state. And the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont, has scheduled its first hearing on gun violence for Wednesday.

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Scheduled to testify are Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the National Rifle Association, and Mark Kelly, husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was severely wounded two years ago in a mass shooting that left six people dead and more than a dozen wounded. Giffords, who retired from Congress a year ago, and Kelly, a retired astronaut, have since become gun-control advocates.

Leahy hopes to have a bill on the Senate floor by late February or early March after a series of hearings.

Leahy, along with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) — who is trying to craft a bill mandating universal background checks for gun purchasers — hope to use the “lowest common denominator” approach to assembling the Senate legislation.

The bill coming out of Leahy’s committee is expected to include universal background checks but not a more contentious ban on the sale of assault weapons pushed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Schumer, a co-sponsor.

Schumer has also been seeking bipartisan backing for his own universal background checks proposal, including talks with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). Another conservative Republican, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, has signaled that he’d be open to such a proposal but has not endorsed a bill yet.

Under current law, gun sales among private parties do not require background checks and neither do sales during gun shows in most states. Experts say there’s no way to know how many guns trade hands this way each year, but estimates range as high as 6 million or more.

“Rather than refiling our background checks bill right away, we are taking the time to approach members on both sides of the aisle in order to earn bipartisan support,” Schumer said in statement to POLITICO. “Our hope is to have a strong consensus bill that Chairman Leahy will consider marking up in his committee.”

Should the Leahy bill reach the Senate floor, amendments are expected to be considered, including the assault weapons ban, a prohibition on high-capacity ammunition clips, new restrictions on gun trafficking and expanded funding for mental health screening and treatment, among others.

Such a strategy would allow senators, especially Democrats up for reelection in red states in 2014, to support only the measures they favor, such as more background checks. These Democrats would then go on the record opposing an assault weapons ban, which would aid their reelection efforts.